Tiger arrested on DUI charge in Florida

Hogan. Snead. Nelson. The biggest names in golf have won there, and the biggest names will headline at this week’s Genesis Open at 7,322-yard, par-71 Riviera Country Club. Matt Kuchar and Xander Schauffele, FedExCup Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, are separated by just 8 points. Bubba Watson has won the Genesis three times, Phil Mickelson twice, Dustin Johnson once. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth are winless here on TOUR, as is Tiger Woods, who will try to address one of the only holes in his golfing resume. THE FLYOVER To go or not to go? Players often try to drive the 315-yard, par-4 10th hole, with mixed results. Simply put, the shallow and well-bunkered green provides a stiff defense whether they’re trying to hit it with their first or second shots. Statistically, 61 percent of players have gone for the green off the tee since 2014, making birdie or better 30 percent of the time. The winners since ’14 are a combined 1-under when going for it and 2-over when laying up. Translation: Going for the green just might be a gamble worth taking. LANDING ZONE The 503-yard, par-5 opening hole provides an unusually elevated tee shot and a gentle start to the round. It has given up the most eagles on TOUR since 2004 (414), and winner Bubba Watson went a combined 5 under there last year, the fourth winner in the ShotLink era (since 2003) to play it in 5 under or better. Nearly 98 percent of the field went for the green in two last year, the highest percentage of any hole on TOUR. WEATHER CHECK  From PGA TOUR meteorologist Wade Stettner: “Rain will continue through the day on Thursday and could be heavy at times, especially during the afternoon hours when a front is forecast to reach LA. Total rainfall on Thursday is expected around 1 inch. Rain will taper off Thursday evening. Scattered showers are possible on Friday with the better chance during the afternoon hours. Dry conditions are forecast on Saturday, but there will be another chance of showers Sunday afternoon. Temperatures will be cool this week with afternoon highs only in the lower 60s each day.â€� For the latest weather news from Pacific Palisades, Calif., check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself because a lot of people are pulling for me, and I’m pulling for myself, too. BY THE NUMBERS  1926 – First year the Genesis was played, making it the seventh-oldest active TOUR event, behind The Open Championship (1860), U.S. Open (1895), BMW Championship (1899), RBC Canadian Open (1904), PGA Championship (1916), and Valero Texas Open (1922). 25 – Tiger Woods’ MC a year ago was only the 25th missed cut of his long career. In 17 TOUR starts since, his only MC came at the 2018 U.S. Open. 4 – Rounds of 64 or better already this season for Matt Kuchar, who leads the FedExCup by 8 points after wins at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and Sony Open in Hawaii. 2.814 – Winner Bubba Watson’s Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green last year, second best in the field. He was 21st in SG: Putting (+.767) SCATTERSHOTS Tiger’s to-do list: Woods made his first PGA TOUR start at age 16, in 1992. He missed the cut. Last year he missed the cut again. He’ll make his 13th career start at Riviera this week, the only TOUR course where he’s never won in 10 or more attempts. Black History Month: The Genesis will mark the 50th anniversary of Charlie Sifford’s win at the TOUR’s L.A. stop in 1969 (played at Rancho Municipal G.C.) and the 10th year of the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption. Tim O’Neal is the 2019 recipient of the Sifford Exemption, named for the first African-American to play the TOUR in 1960. Spieth has good memories: Jordan Spieth, who flashed some form in the first two rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before slogging through a forgettable weekend, has never won the Genesis. A T4 finish in 2015 remains his best result in six starts. However, as a member of the Texas golf team he helped the Longhorns win the 2012 NCAA championship at Riviera. DJ going for history: Dustin Johnson, who won the Genesis in 2017 and was runner up in 2014 and ’15, has 19 TOUR wins at age 34. In the last 50 years, only four players have reached 20 wins before age 35: Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller and Phil Mickelson.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – For the last two days at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, you can’t miss a Norwegian. RELATED: Final leaderboard | The clubs Hovland used to win And that’s not, specifically, Viktor Hovland – although we’ll get to him soon – instead a throng of about 15 Norwegian fans who planned a trip around the event at Mayakoba in order to cheer on their countryman. Hovland gave the crew plenty to root for over the weekend at El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course and on Sunday he won for the third time on TOUR. He set the 72-hole scoring record in the process and became the first every back-to-back champ of the event. The group, all members of the same golf club in Norway, make an annual trip to Mexico. Hovland said he had no idea who they are, but when he played at Mayakoba three years ago he did see them once before. Oslo, Norway, is about 5,200 miles from Playa Del Carmen, but for the last two days, anyway, Hovland felt the love. “The Norwegian people are very patriotic and it’s cool to see that I can get so much support even in Mexico, which is pretty far away from Norway. They were great,” said Hovland, the fifth consecutive international winner on the PGA TOUR. “They applauded good shots and obviously cheered a little bit extra when I made a putt. It was really nice. I want to thank them a lot.” The crew was in full voice Sunday to cheer on the 24-year-old, who overcame what seemed like the universe working against him this week to take this one across the finish line. He won by four over Carlos Ortiz, who put on a show for the Mexican faithful. This is Ortiz’s second runner-up result in three years at Mayakoba. Hovland’s week started with a broken driver, a product of Danny Lee doing some speed training exercise on the range Wednesday. He had to borrow James Hahn’s, which worked out just fine – he was T2 in Driving Accuracy for the week. Hovland had his best-career effort in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season, so he said it’s unlikely he’ll put the new driver specs into his bag full-time, but there’s no denying that something clicked this week. “I could see myself using maybe this setup at certain courses for sure,” said Hovland. Then Hovland opened his second round by hitting his approach no more than “four steps right of the pin.” But it landed on a sprinkler head and went into the trees. Lost ball. “When something like that happens, you just kind of go, ‘Oh, man, come on, like really, is that (going to) happen?” said Hovland. “I was able to get over that pretty quickly.” Hovland righted the ship on Saturday with a 9-under 62 (perhaps since nothing odd happened that day) and was untouchable Sunday. He became the first golfer to win the same event in back-to-back years since Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship in 2018-19. Hovland put on as complete a performance as any through the early part of the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season – despite plenty of obstacles in his way – and is projected to move to fourth in the FedExCup standings. “I wouldn’t say the third round that I played is my best round ever. I didn’t like, tell myself, ‘Oh, man, I’m playing the best golf of my life,’ but it’s just kind of putting everything together into four rounds and making very few mistakes,” said Hovland. “I would say I’ve definitely had better ball-striking weeks, but to put a good ball-striking week with good short game and good putting is something that I haven’t done very often.” On Sunday Hovland was 3-under for his first nine holes, and despite to bogeys on the back nine, he came in with a 4-under 67 to close the door. “I was coming in with some high expectations, but obviously for it to end like this and win by four shots, it’s been a cool week,” said Hovland. “Couldn’t ask for it to go any different.” Justin Thomas, playing in the group ahead of Hovland and Talor Gooch, finished third at 18 under, while another Ryder Cupper, Scottie Scheffler, finished fourth. Scheffler, who played alongside Bryson DeChambeau and defeated Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood on Saturday at Whistling Straits, said Hovland’s game has been “proven” over the last couple of seasons. “He’s a great ball-striker and a really good putter as well and obviously a very talented guy,” said Scheffler. “I’m sure this won’t be the last time you’ll see him on top of the leaderboard.” And with every appearance on top of a PGA TOUR leaderboard, you can bet there will be even more fans from Norway cheering him on.

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